23:53 - Sunny PagliaccioNote to self: Do NOT open links on max volume in the middle of a quiet night. Otherwise, not bad. :D

23:52 - ApothecaryFast food workers planning a strike in support of $15/hour wages next month. I'm a tutor in a reading lab at a college and I don't even make that much, a bit of an overestimation of one's importance, don'tcha think?

01. Autumn Forever02. This World Is Made For Me03. Lies (For Fools)04. New Year's Day [U2 cover]05. Chaotic Me06. Little Deaths07. No Turning Back08. Fragmented09. Endlessly10. Last Breath11. Live In You [Acoustic version][Japanese bonus]

When the news about To/Die/For parted ways with singer Jape and guitarist J.P. struck us, everyone knew that a very short but successful era was coming to an end. A new singer in To/Die/For would be a strange thing to get used too, so therefore I believe more than myself was enlighten when we heard about Tiaga, the band Jape and J.P. created together with some musicians that's been involved in To/Die/For in one way or another.
But then, without any kind of warning, Jape and J.P. overtook the rights of the name To/Die/For and all of a sudden, Jape was back in To/Die/For, and a small stripe of light was getting past the thick black clouds in the sky.

But even if Jape and J.P. was back, a change in the music direction was unavoidable, and with "IV" you'll hear that.
Even if the album smells like To/Die/For, there are parts, which I see Jape didn't really get through in the band in the past.
For a regular listener the sound might sound pretty much the same, but for a fan that has loved every release since "All Eternity", you'll notice these small changes.

But before it seems like I'm reject the album, I've to say that this is yet another album that I worship from To/Die/For, it seems like nothing that Jape sings can be bad, his is one of the best Gothic Metal singers along with Ville Laihiala (Sentenced, Poisonblack).
And "IV" contains not only one great track, but a big bunch of them.

The main thing I noticed with "IV" was that the lyrics feel happier (or less depressive), there are more about Love than dead and despair. Now I know To/Die/For always has been singing more about love than death, but the other albums has always contained this dark feeling over it that "IV" aren't.
And then the music feels more straight on than depressive and electro.
This might sound like small and significance, but they matters a lot and are playing a big roll in the whole perspective of To/Die/For's discography.

But overall I don't see why we should be crying blood; Jape is back, To/Die/For are still worth dying for. "IV" might not overcome the great "All Eternity" nor being as popular as "Epilogue" but it will all of a certain be a To/Die/For album to count on.
You still have all the "sing-a-long" refrains and creepy feeling when Jape howls words like "Hurt me once, hurt me twice, I'm not the one who cries".

But before we end, I really have to praise the guys for record a acoustic version of the most brilliant "Live for You", that song is one of my all time To/Die/For favourites, and believe me, it's not less good acoustic.

The Finnish melancholic metal-heads To/Die/For return in 2005 refreshed, with a new line-up, with the band mates seeming to harmonize wonderfully together judging from the very good outcome and a brand new album that seems to be their most mature work up to date!

"IV" represents a very good and successful example of well-played melodic and melancholic metal, without losing its heaviness, since the guitar riffing is present, ending in inspired solos many times! The keyboard melodies evoke the ideal atmosphere for the music of To/Die/For which paves the way for the melancholic, melodic and expressive vocals of Jape, escalating this way the emotional charge of the compositions. The lyrics of the album consist of a soulful testimony from Jape's side, who poured his soul into this album, having composed eight out of the ten compositions on this album. One of the two remaining songs on "IV": "Last Breath", the beautiful and atmosphere-evoking closing composition, has been composed by the keyboardist of the band, Juska Salminen. The other is a cover of U2's renowned song "New Year's Day", a very interesting cover version.